Sir Henry Thomas Hopkinson CBE (19 April 1905 - 20 June 1990) was a British journalist, picture magazine editor, author, and teacher.
Born in Manchester, Hopkinson attended prep school on the Lancashire coast and then St Edward's School, Oxford. From there he went to Pembroke College, reading Classical Moderations (Class II, 1925) and Greats (Class III, 1927). His philosophy tutor for Greats was R. G. Collingwood.
Hopkinson first worked in advertising and publicity, then became a magazine assistant editor in 1934. He was soon working for Stefan Lorant on Weekly Illustrated magazine, and wrote short stories and novels during his free time. He also assisted Lorant on Lilliput magazine, and then on Picture Post magazine from 1938 to 1940. When Lorant left permanently for America in July 1940, Hopkinson became editor of Picture Post, the leading illustrated magazine of its time and a pioneering example of photojournalism, where he remained in post until 1950.
In October 1950, after photojournalist Bert Hardy and writer James Cameron returned to London from their Korean War coverage, Hopkinson tried to go to press with their coverage of United Nations atrocities in Pusan. Publisher Sir Edward Hulton stopped the presses, fearing that coverage would 'give aid and comfort to the enemy'. Hopkinson persisted and was fired by Hulton.
Hopkinson became editor of South Africa's Drum magazine in 1958. He encouraged the South African photojournalist Peter Magubane, who was covering the anti-apartheid struggle. He travelled regularly to Ghana and Nigeria during this time, organising the local editions of Drum. During his time in Africa, he was involved in setting up Journalism Schools for the International Press Institute (IPI).
When Hopkinson left Drum, he went on to teach journalism in British universities. He was founding director of the Centre for Journalism Studies at University College Cardiff, now Cardiff University, from 1970-75. Later, he returned to Oxford. He continued his habit of writing short stories, novels, as well as a biography of Meher Baba and several autobiographies. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1978.
